


Those Bygone Years

by purpledolpin05



Series: The Massive Crossover Timeline of Aries Nigel's Adventures [1]
Category: Pitching Tents (2017)
Genre: Aries and Todd are endgame by a longshot, Aries doesn't get paid enough to go through the drama she gets yanked into by her friends, Aries goes by 2 identities, Aries used to live in Hawkins, Crossdressing, Gen, Senior year, The timeline is perfect for crossovers, references to stranger things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpledolpin05/pseuds/purpledolpin05
Summary: [Based on Pitching Tents, 2017]It's Senior Year of the Graduating Class of 1984. And while most teens are deciding their next step towards their future, Aries Nigel was dragged into camping out at Trout Camp during their last weekend before graduation by a couple of best friends (Danny, Phil, Scott and Todd). Aries has heard about the shenanigans teens like to get into while camping in the woods. But Aries is hiding 2 deep secrets: That Aries was a girl herself but just prefers wearing androgynes clothes; and that she was secretly in love with her friend Todd Miles. Would she manage to gut up and tell her crush or would she just let this last chance slip away?Rated PG13 for mentions of drinking alcohol, cursing and hooking up.
Relationships: Daniel "Danny" Whitaker/Allison, Shelley/Original Character (One-sided), Todd (Pitching Tents)/Original Female Character, Todd/Shelley, Trini/Danny (Past Relationship)
Series: The Massive Crossover Timeline of Aries Nigel's Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162076
Kudos: 1





	Those Bygone Years

** 1984 **

**[Aries' P.O.V.]**

The sound of my alarm clock woke up early in the morning. I yawned before reaching my hand over to switch off the alarm clock lazily.

The name's Aries Nigel, and I'm 17 as of April 11th 1984. And I am a Senior at my high school, well soon-to-be graduate of class 1984.

"Ari! Time to get up!" I heard my grandmother shouting from the kitchen. "Ari" is my nickname my cousins and my grandmother gives me.

"ON IT!" I yelled back, before getting ready for my day.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face, took a quick cold water shower before changing into my daily school getup: a beige buttoned-up shirt with dark brown knitted sweater vests and jeans.

I quickly made my way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning, grandma." I greeted her before propping myself into a seat and stuffing my mouth with bread before reading today's newspaper.

"Good morning..." Grandmother frowned at my behavior. "It's so unladylike, you're a young lady and yet you eat like you belonged in a part of those football players."

"Because I am hungry and I need to rush to school." I replied, shrugging a bit before biting on another piece of Grandma's signature raisin bread.

"You're not a boy." She sighed. "And why are you wearing that again?"

I chewed a bit on my bottom lip before I looked up from the newspaper at her.

"I just think this outfit is cooler." I replied, careful with my choice of words. It's much better than the clothes she makes me wear at her tea parties with her Debutante Annual Club Meeting.

"You're a lady, and I expect you to dress and behave like one." Grandmother frowned in disapproval. 

Oh right, I may have forgot to mention this: I am a Girl. Not a Guy, A Girl.

"Sorry Grandma, but I need to get to school now," I told her, before I quickly ate the piece of bread while putting on socks and my shoes.

"Are you going to be home after school tonight? Because Mrs. Darson from my Bingo Night has a grandson, Hudson, he's about your age, he's not that bad looking and he's in the Military Camp" Grandmother asked.

"Sorry, but I will be hanging out with my friends." I replied. Anything is better than having to go on an arranged date with someone I barely know. I'd rather date someone that I know and actually fancy, thank you very much.

I quickly tied my messy dark hair into a loose bun before tucking the bun inside my dark brown beanie hat.

"Fine, just do not be home late before curfew." Grandmother quickly frowned. "Tonight's an emergency annual meeting for the Debutante Club."

"Thanks, bye Grandma!" I cheered before I sling my bag behind my shoulders and headed to the bike my Dad got me before he and mom went to their business trip at Ohio last year.

I placed my bag inside the bicycle's basket and cycled to school. While I have a car license but I prefer to cycle since it's more environment friendly.

I parked my bike at one of the bike parking spots before locking the bike and grabbed my bag.

Pushing the thoughts aside, I walked into the school and went to my locker.

Another Thursday, only less than 14 days until graduation. I don't know why but I'm going to miss this school, maybe I'm just a sentimental girl.

"ARES!!" I heard someone behind me before I got tackled by someone. I quickly screamed.

"Good grief! You have GOT to stop tackling me every morning, Todd." I frowned as I looked up the tall boy with tanned skin and long dark hair.

"I know, but it's so fun." The tall boy laughed. Meet Todd Miles, he was my first friend when I moved from Hawkins, Indiana when I was in Sophomore. He's generally a nice guy and a loyal friend, but he can be kind of a flirt with the ladies, and he sometimes makes inappropriate jokes at horrible timing. The first time when my grandmother met him, she thought he was a nightclub drug addict.

It may be fun for you, but I am a girl! I do not like it when a guy gets too physically friendly with me.

"You scream just like a little girl." Todd teased me.

_BECAUSE I AM A GIRL_

"Yes, and I would like to live long enough to scream like an old woman." I replied calmly while raising my eyebrows, before Todd laughed. Somehow listening to his laugh is sort of music to my ears. Oh yeah, I may or may not have a teensy crush on Todd.

"Todd, were you teasing Ares again." Another friend of mine, Daniel "Danny" Whitaker, frowned over. He's really good at drawing and he's a sweet guy and he's the only Good Kid among the 4 boys. Behind him were Phil (short for Phillip) Martinez and Scott Salgado-Telis. Phil's the DJ among us and he's generally a nice guy but he makes disturbing jokes sometimes. Scott is cheerful and more of the Muscle among the friends but a little clueless from time to time. 

"It's how we bond." Todd smiled.

"Get used to it, he'd probably still be clinging to me by the time we're 50." I replied, before pretending to glare at him, "If I die out of a heart attack, I am suing you."

" What if I had nothing to with it?" Todd asked.

"I am _still_ suing you." I claimed. 

"I love this guy!" Phil laughed.

Right... _'Guy'_...

"You two argue like a married couple." Scott joked.

"Eww! That's gross." Todd quickly frowned. "You're not my type, no offense."

If only you knew Todd...But imagining him and I married...*internally blushes* 

"Yeah, I mean you're like a brother to me." I quickly lied.

"Hey Ares, we're planning to meet up at the same spot tonight, wanna join?" Scott asked me.

By usual spot, he meant the hideout we often go to. Of course, Phil and Todd were the ones who smoke weed, I do not smoke. My grandfather died of lung cancer because he was a smoker, and I do not want to become an addict. He was a good man and one of the sweetest grandfather there is, but he was gone too soon.

"I've told him yesterday, he's down for it." Todd nodded.

"Because my grandmother was planning to take me to meet one of the grandkids of her Bingo night partners. " I replied. "So, pick me up later, tough guy."

"Wow, she really wants you to settle down." Danny blinked.

"Why do I have to pick you up?" Todd frowned.

"Because you live just around the corner to my Grandma's home?" I replied, he lives just a few houses down the street from where I live. "That, and I am in charge of laundry so it's gonna be a _long_ while."

"Ugh fine, I'll be over by 6." He groaned a bit, aww, seeing him making that depressed face is kinda cute. Wait, stop that!

"C'mon, we have History class to go to." I reminded them, before we dashed to class.

So yeah, I have a double-life. I cross-dress at school, I'm actually a girl but the week before my Sophomore year started, one of my younger friends Dustin that I used to play Dungeons and Dragons with back at Hawkins Middle School got gum stuck on my hair by accident, and gum is hard to pull off so my only choice was to cut it short. And since Aries is a gender-neutral name, everyone had mistaken me as a Boy (Even the teachers for goodness' sake).

I mean I have always been a bit of a tomboy so I kind of don't mind my semi-crossdressing life. My friends call me 'Ares', nicknamed after the Greek god of War. Although pretending to be a guy makes it hard to hide my feelings for Todd, even if he doesn't know. That may also explain why some girl from Freshman year asked me out to prom last year. 

So yeah, welcome to my life.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been trying to write a fanfiction for Pitching Tents for a while so this is the opening I have for Aries so far. She is often mistaken for a boy by her friends because of her outfit and her boyish personality. More of her backstory will be revealed later on, although the movie contains some PG13 scenes of drinking, smoking and hooking up, I will tone down the language since I am not allowed to curse so I will mostly censor the words instead.
> 
> Since other than Danny, none of the guy friends had last names so I decided to get creative and gave them last names (Miles for Todd, Martinez for Phil, and Salgado-Telis for Scott) [For ya'll Lab Rats readers from my usual Fanfiction.net site, I've given Bob from Lab Rats the last name similar to Scott, try connecting the dots. and Phil looks kinda like Jerry from Kickin' It so they might be related?] I am a Disney fan and like to make random connections between fandoms. 
> 
> So the next chapter would be with Aries and the boys having their meeting. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.


End file.
